cigarette smoke not only harms the smokers health but also the person breathing the second hand smoke

Running head : THE DANGERS OF ACTIVE AND PASSIVE SMOKING

The Dangers of Active and Passive Smoking

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The Dangers of Active and Passive Smoking

Introduction

People have always questioned the effects of cigarette smoking . While smokers definitely gain something out of it , non-smokers are concerned with the risks it poses on human health . Smoking not only affects the smoker 's health but also those who are exposed to the smoke it generates . In the United States alone , cigarette smoking is responsible for up to

430 ,000 deaths annually (Ockene and Miller , 1997 . The many health risks of cigarette smoking is recognized by health experts and governments worldwide , but further clinical and empirical researches have continuously shown that passive smoking presents the same , if not worse , health risks as active smoking

Cigarette smoking is considered to be the single , most preventable cause of death in the United States and in many countries . Cigarettes contain about 4 ,000 chemical agents , about 60 of which are carcinogens - cancer causing chemicals . Many of the substances found in cigarettes such as carbon monoxide , tar , arsenic and lead are toxic to the human body Perhaps the most harmful of these substances is nicotine , a drug that is naturally present in tobacco plants and functions as an anti-herbivore chemical . Nicotine is highly toxic that it has been used as pesticide in the past . In low concentrations , however , nicotine has desirable effects including increasing alertness , an aid to relaxation , as antidepressant and reducing positive symptoms...